A Former Walking Dead Cast Member Knows Who Negan Killed

Ever since the season finale, we've all been chomping at the bit to find out who Negan killed, and by all accounts, so have the cast members. The producers have indicated that the cast doesn't know who died, and Chandler Riggs came right out and said that he has no idea who Negan killed. But as it turns out, Walking Dead alum Tyler James Williams, who hasn't been on the show since season five, somehow has the inside scoop.

In a recent interview with EW, Williams confirmed in no uncertain terms that he knows who died, and that he has known since long before the cast filmed the finale:

"They were still shooting [season] 6," said Williams of when he found out. "So like, middle of 6."

He went on to say that a cast member leaked the news to him, which confirms that at least one cast member knows:

"Oh, yeah, of course," he said when asked if he heard it from a cast member. "We all still speak and they kind of keep me up to date and stuff on what's going on and all of that. … You have to understand [showrunner Scott M. Gimple] knows everything seasons and seasons out, so people knew, but we can't say anything. No one can say anything. So it's actually better to say that we don't know."

So what does this mean? We had already suspected that it wasn't realistic for the identity of the cast member to be kept a secret from everyone; in fact, it would be way worse if they really didn't know, because then there are presumably nine actors who have no idea if they're out of a job. Plus, Norman Reedus heavily implied that he knows who died in an interview with the Today show, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan told EW that he had no idea the episode ended on a cliffhanger until he watched it, which means they probably filmed the death scene in its entirety.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that any individual cast members were lying (although the producers probably were). Andrew Lincoln, for example, didn't so much say he didn't know as avoid the question entirely by discussing the cast's vow of silence, and Chandler Riggs might not have known simply because the script had already confirmed that his character was safe. If I had to guess I would say that as few people know as possible, so the producers probably told all of the actors whose jobs were potentially in peril. Or, alternatively, they might have only told the actor who was leaving, which would heavily indicate that Daryl was, in fact, Negan's victim.